I binned uni & ignored haters saying my job’s ‘silly’ – now I’m a young mum in Marbella with 2 million-pound companies

If running a seven-figure company and solo parenting her one-year-old son at the age of 25 wasn’t enough, Liv Conlon decided to launch a second business - and in less than a year, it's on track to turnover £1million.

Liv, 25, from Glasgow but who lives in Marbella, Spain, is the brains behind multi-award-winning ThePropertyStagers, which furnishes 300 properties for sale around the UK every year.

She left school at 16 after being badly bullied to set up the company, which teachers said would fail - and didn’t.

Now, Liv has launched StagerBoss - teaching women how to set up their own staging company, which is already on track to turnover seven figures, and achieved a £144,000 turnover in one month alone this year.

Interiors expert and mum to her son Cash, Liv said: “Not many people can say they’ve started two successful businesses from scratch, built a £1m brand in their teens, travelled the world delivering keynote speeches, won 12 national and international business and entrepreneur awards, delivered a TEDx talk, had dinner with the Prime Minister, and became a two-times best-selling author with an endorsement from Netflix.

“And even fewer people can say they’ve done all that – and so much more – before they were 25.”

At 16, Liv was a straight-A student who was bullied relentlessly by her classmates.

She was also called “crazy” by her teachers when she told them her plan to leave school before her final year to launch an interior design company with no funding.

The mum-of-one always knew she wanted to run her own business, having made £5,000 at the age of 13 importing goods from China and selling them online.

Working with her mum, Ali, 57, the pair found a gap in the property market after Ali struggled to sell a house she bought at an auction.

An estate agent told her to drop the asking price, but Liv instead suggested staging.

Once Liv had decorated the house with furniture and accessories, the property sold within three days for above the asking price.

And the idea for ThePropertyStagers was born.

Liv said: “We knew about staging as a concept and decided to engage a staging service.

''However we couldn’t find anyone who offered this service at an affordable price – so I decided to do it myself.

“In three days it sold above the valuation, selling the furniture to boot with a nice healthy profit, and so ThePropertyStagers was born!

“Teachers said I was ruining my life by not applying to university and choosing to start my own business, despite achieving five As.

''Mum was supportive, but some friends and family believed it was just a phase.

“It was a pretty scary thing to do.

''I really could have gone on to do anything I wanted at university, so when I put to the school that I wanted to leave before my final year, they called me into the careers office and sat me down and said 'are you crazy, why are you leaving school when you have the opportunity to do anything you want?'.”

How to start your own business

Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:

• One of the biggest ­barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
• Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
• If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
• It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
• Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
• Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!

ThePropertyStagers quickly became the UK’s most recommended staging company, winning 13 awards nationally and internationally in six months.

It made £30,000 in its first year, and turned over £1million in its second, when Liv, who was then crowned The UK Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, was just 19.

ThePropertyStagers now has a team of 10.

With her money, Liv has invested in a home in Spain and a second home in Glasgow, as well as luxurious holidays to five-star hotels.

Teaching other women

Last year, Liv, who now lives in Marbella with Cash, her mother Ali, and their dog Kevin, had the idea to teach other women how to set up their own property staging business - sharing with them the strategy for what worked for them.

It was launched in 2024, and hit £144,000 in a month by January.

Liv said: “My story itself encouraged and empowered many women to want to build the same success, which is where my newest business, StagerBoss was born, where we coach women to launch their own staging businesses.

“A lot of people were asking how I grew my business and I was too busy to help them individually, so I built a course explaining.

“People ask why I would coach people to set up a business which could be in competition, but I believe there is more than enough work to go round.

''Especially for women with young children, staging properties can be easily built around childcare.

“My hard work has allowed me to move to my dream location, Marbella, live in my dream home and be able to be at home everyday with my son, whilst I run my business (and keep a base in my hometown of Glasgow) I travel every month to a new location or hotel that’s on my bucket list.”

Running a second business along with solo parenting means Liv has to be incredibly structured with her time.

She works to a strict schedule, which includes getting up at 4am and going to the gym, as well as allocating time to her son, Cash, so they get quality periods together that aren’t interrupted by calls or deadlines.

Liv also factors in ‘'deep work'’ sessions, which are distraction-free (no notifications or interruptions from anyone) sessions for a minimum of two hours.

She also schedules in time to ''eat the frogs'' - doing the work she least wants to do.

She said: “At times I'm sure my life looks glamorous but people only see the light part: speaking on stages, being interviewed, staying in cool places.

''However, it has taken many years of working behind the scenes to get to this place.

And so I sacrificed a lot to build the life I now have, from waking up daily at 4am, to saying no to most social events with friends

“I recognise that my schedule could be viewed as quite extreme and it's not for everyone, but it works for me.

“Another reason that I work to this schedule is so that I can be a fully present mother.

''When I'm with Cash, I am never on my phone or laptop, I'm enjoying every moment.

''On the weekend, work doesn't even enter my mind, we have two full days of fun.

“Ultimately, everything I'm building is to create a life with no limits for us, and to change other people's lives along the way, and I'm really excited to be a role model for him - that no matter what he wants to achieve, he can do it.”

Making sacrifices to be where she is now

But, ultimately, for Liv, her hard work and dedication over the past decade has paid off - even though she has chosen to sacrifice the typical lifestyle of her peers.

Liv said: “I’d always loved the quote, “work like others won’t, so you can live like others can’t”.

''And so I sacrificed a lot to build the life I now have, from waking up daily at 4am, to saying no to most social events with friends.

“I can confirm that it’s worked, and the feeling of making not only your family proud but yourself proud is a feeling you can’t describe.

''Some of the experiences I’ve had are truly once in a lifetime, like sitting at dinner with the prime minister to seeing my first (and second) book being published on Amazon.

''You only get one life, and I can already say I’ve lived it to the max.”